Sunday, October 30, 2005

If you are looking for good Italian Food in Sarasota, Florida, do not go to Primo's! From the bread and dipping oil to the lukewarm pizza, we endured pure dining torture last night. I do need to give them some credit; the pitcher of Morretti beer on tap was fresh tasting. You can tell the quality of a restaurant initially from the bread they serve and this was white tasteless and stale. We were horrified when the waitress poured dried oregano onto a plate, reached for the oily bottle with no cap and worn label that was part of our table arrangement and dumped a quantity over the dried herbs.The oil itself had no taste and may have been suitable for frying, but not a finishing oil for dipping. This our pre-meal indulgence?

From the experience we were having, we could not understand why so many people were packing into the place and the waitress confirmed that the restaurant is normally busy year around. How can a restaurant serve such poor quality food and no one notice? From what we understand the owner is from Italy making the whole experience more puzzling. Instead of sensing a well prepared meal, we sensed cut corners.

Unfortunately our main entree a pizza came out with the wrong toppings and cold. We returned it and the toppings were corrected but it remained cold. Our order of calamare was just ok.

One way to reduce your chances of dining in hell is to consult the Sarasota Restaurant Reviews at http://www.4sarasota.com/reviewThis site provides an opportunity to post your dining experience on an already listed restaurant or you can add a new one. I'm going to post my experience at Primo and see if they are posting both positive and negative comments. We shall see....

It has been a few weeks since I sent my review of Primo to the Sarasota Restaurant Review. I revised the comments above to be more focused and less subjective before I sent it in. So far they have not posted my review. This leads me to doubt the credibility of the review service and to wonder just how they are making their review selections. I will not be looking to this site for a credible restaurant review in the future.

Thursday, October 27, 2005

The Nova Scotia Food Poem is a visual and verbal record of our eating tour across the maritimes this summer. These are stills from a digital movie complete with the soundtrack of bagpipes. Click on the image to get a better read.

Saturday, October 22, 2005

Why am I eating artificial bacon bits directly out of the plastic container? In a pinch when the cabinets are bare and no time to even boil an egg, baco bits hit all the satisfying urges that tongue and mind scream for...well sort of.

We have an appreciation for well prepared food and for the countless generations of cooks that have tasted, tested and documented their recipes. This has made it possible for usto experience a bit of culinary history, cultures and theinfinite possibility of taste.